I think you are referring to a case that has recently been spotlighted in the national media. It was reported that a woman charged with DUI in New York used what’s known as “auto-brewery syndrome" as a defense to her DUI (in New York it’s referred to as “DWI,” in Georgia it’s called “DUI”). As it turned out, she proved that she suffers from the extremely rare syndrome and it was not because she was consuming alcohol that her breathalyzer test was highly over the limit. In “auto-brewery syndrome,” yeast that is normally found in the GI tract is affected by a meal that has a high amount of carbohydrates, and the yeast metabolize the carbohydrates into ethanol. In other words, the yeast creates alcohol in a person’s body simply because the person ate a lot of carbohydrates.

Different states use different terms in their legislation to describe driving while impaired by alcohol and/or drugs. Some common acronyms are DUI, DWI, OWI, OMVI, & DUII; and there are still others. In Georgia (and elsewhere) prosecutors look for other DUI charges. Generally, the more DUI charges an individual has, the greater the potential punishments. If a prosecutor finds that you have another impaired driving charge, they will likely use that to enhance punishments. That another state uses a different acronym than DUI will matter little. We would be interested to know how old the prior DWI is. If it is within, say, 5 years it will have greater weight than a DWI from 15 years ago.